End of School and All That

 This post will cover almost all of the end of year things we did.

First, we had Emma's class picnic.  The kids were all excited to see each other outside of school and get to play and have lunch together.  Emma spent a lot of time climbing in the trees.  Nick spent a lot of time complaining about wanting to be pushed on the swings.  Unfortunately for Nick, his class picnic was the same time at a different park.  But, about half his class was at Emma's since they had siblings in Emma's class.

It was a nice day and although it ended up fine, it wasn't without hiccups.   Nick left my lights on in the van and we ended up needing to have the battery jumped.  Thankfully, I keep a blanket in the trunk.  The kids hunkered down and relaxed for a while before speeding off to a meeting at Ryan's school.

 Below are pictures from Emma's dance picture day (she's such a ham) and Ryan's rise day at Cub Scouts.  He is now a Bear.  We are very proud of both of them for sticking with their activities for the whole year and enjoying them!

 These pictures are from Emma's graduation from preschool.  It's hard to imagine that she is going to Kindergarten next year.  She has made tremendous progress in her social skills as well as reading and math.  She had wonderful caring teachers this year that really helped push her to move outside her comfort zone and accommodate her advanced skills.  Thankfully, we have been told she has been moved to a morning Kindergarten class to allow her to participate in a 1st grade reading program.  More work for mom picking her up each day - but totally worth it to not have her bored in school.

 Below are pictures from Ryan's field day.  He was a  little shy about participating, but liked having his little brother play along.  They golfed, had tug of war and bean bag toss as well as water balloons.  They even had their faces painted!

Ryan has some great teachers this year who really cared about helping him progress at his level and helping him to get along with others.  He's really progressed and had a good year.

 These are our last day of school pictures.  Each one of them has grown so much over the year.  Nick ended up loving school (especially if he got to stay late).  Emma made some great friends and learned to do more than the academic part of school.  Ryan made great strides in his standardized tests, coming to just below normal from a very below average in Kindergarten.  He made some friends and is really understanding how school works.